WASHINGTON — Local Latino activists are warning against potential scams after
President Obama’s announcement this week that millions of people in the United
States illegally will be eligible for work permits and deportation deferrals.
Even though the president announced the changes in a prime-time speech, the new
rules will not go into effect for months, and application processes have not yet
been worked out.
“It’s very early in the process; people should be very aware,” says George
Escobar of CASA de Maryland.
The government won’t accept the applications until April, “so we’re really
concerned about fraudulent actors going out in the community saying ‘we’ll do
your application today for $10,000, $5,000, for $2,000′, and trying to take
advantage of the excitement people have to exploit them,” Escobar says.
As CASA’s Director of Health and Human Services, Escobar says the group will be
working in D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia to make sure
people impacted by the changes have access to all the information they
need.
“We’ll be working to educate people, creating large informational sessions,
screening people for eligibility criteria, checking their documents so that they
can create their application packages,” Escobar continues. “And ultimately,
facilitating large application preparedness clinics where we’ll provide
individualized assistance and help people through the entire process.”
Once details of the programs emerge, there are legitimate community
organizations that will help with applications and other questions —
accurately, and for free.
For now, he says people who qualify for the programs can begin collecting any
documents that may help their applications.
That includes things like tax returns, any documents that can show residence
requirements have been met, birth certificates for children, and getting
passports in order with their native country.
Several groups, including CASA, plan informational sessions soon. CASA expects
to hold events in Arlington, Prince William, Montgomery and Prince George’s
counties in the first week of December.
About 4 million of the estimated 11 million people in the United States
illegally will be eligible for the new programs when the Obama administration puts them into place next year.
The largest group of people to benefit from the changes will be
parents of children born in the United States, Escobar says.
Parents who can prove they’ve been in the country for at least five years
before the president’s announcement this week will be eligible for three-year
work permits and deferred deportation.
Several hundred thousand people are also expected to benefit from an extension
of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which extends deportation
protections to people who came to the country when they were 15 years old or
younger.
The expansion means it will now cover people who entered the U.S. by 2010,
rather than by 2007.
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